Nestled in the green forests of Varese , at the foot of the archaeological park of Castelseprio , the monumental complex of peat is witnessing a story more than a thousand years .

Military outpost of the late Roman Empire, then in the hands of the Goths and the Lombards ( with defensive walls and tower of the century V and VI) , Peat was so pious place of prayer and work of Benedictine nuns ( with VIII -XIII centuries of the church and monastic seat ) .

Abandoned by the nuns in 1453 , was later used as a rural farmhouse . In the tower are preserved rare and important paintings of the late eighth century. The small church of the monastery is mainly attributable to the eleventh century , with the exception of the crypt and the apse of the eighth century that , with the lively pattern alternating bands of large stones and bricks and the refined theory of hanging arches , is fully attributable to the the thirteenth century.

The interior of the church, a single hall , with wooden ceiling and the walls plastered , has preserved , thanks to a careful restoration , all original simplicity of a poor structure , medieval, monastic . The tower of the V -VI century is an example of military architecture of uncommon importance . The buttresses and walls become thinner and climbing translate into architectural forms the decrease of the efforts supported by the structures .

In the lower area of ​​the openings are slit on the second floor open windows instead of beautiful mushroom (ie arch wider base of the light from the window ) . Above a decorative band terracotta marks the original height of the tower, before the building of the top unit